11 April 2007

Imus the Terrible

With all due respect to his fans, the world will not be diminished one iota by Don Imus's departure from the airwaves. He's a shock jock who has worn his pathetic need for respectability on his sleeve, and thus delivers little more than low-grade sophomoric humor combined with low-brow sophomoric commentary. MSNBC could afford to let Imus go since his ratings weren't all that great (actually doing worse than CNN's American Morning in 1Q07, which is pretty pathetic) and of course getting trounced by Fox.

It will be more of a challenge for CBS radio, since there is zero chance they will be able to recover his numbers in the morning. It's also likely that firing Imus from the radio will lead to a major backlash among his listeners, who will not be happy that their favority morning show has been canceled. Mornings are generally miserable times for most working people, and suddenly losing the one thing that makes you smile is rather harsh. Imus listeners are probably mostly Republicans, but this will only serve to harden their resolve not to be pushed around by minorities and politically correct scolds. Not to mention the galvanizing effect that TV appearances by Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have on the electorate, savvy Republican strategists - if there are any left standing these days - should be able to take full advantage.